Den institutionella kulturpolitiska läsfrämjandediskursen - En kritisk diskursanalys

Sammanfattning: The aim of this essay is to explore the discourse of institutional cultural policies on the promotion of reading, through a series of questions centring on power relations and ideology. The theory and method chosen for this investigation are that of Critical Discourse Analysis, mainly as developed by Norman Fairclough. As the ability to read and understand written texts is imperative to democracy, the promotion of reading becomes highly important, especially for those risking exclusion. Studies show that reading skills have deteriorated in Sweden, especially among teenage boys, a fact that has caused great worry and several changes in policies of the promotion of reading. The results of the CDA show that men and boys are overrepresented in the discourse as a whole, and that although levels of literacy is strongly connected to socio-economic circumstances and education, there’s an unwillingness to address the real issues causing problems with literacy, namely that social classes do exist and are an inevitable part of the neo liberal capitalistic system. The system is however never questioned, but rather further legitimized through lexical choices, as before-mentioned often influenced by the corporate world, that emphasize the inevitability of society’s current structure.